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Tobacco Use Cessation and SCI

Smoking and the use of other tobacco products (snuff, chewing tobacco, etc.) is one of the most unhealthy habits possible for a person with SCI. Smokers with SCI have a higher rate of pressure ulcers, ED, osteoporosis, heart disease, and lung and breathing problems.

Veterans continue to use tobacco products at a higher rate than the general population in the USA, and it has been estimated that as many as 30% of SCI Veterans do so.

The PVA has funded the development of a new video on smoking cessation that details the adverse effects that smoking can have on your health if you have a spinal cord injury. You can view the video here: http://www.spinalcord.uab.edu/show.asp?durki=119509 .

A DVD copy of this video can also be purchased for $5 through the same link.

Your provider and local health care facilities/organizations have many resources available to you to assist you in stopping smoking and tobacco use. It is not easy, but classes, support groups, medications, and counseling can be very helpful. Quitting can cause immediate results in improved health and quality of life for you.

We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
Ronald Reagan

Well Bruce my thoughts are you only live once. Might as well enjoy stuff. Even if it's bad for you

thats what I do, smoke, drink, whats the old saying sex, drugs and rock n roll!

We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
Ronald Reagan

you won't be smoking while in the hospital for surgeries... THAT is the time to quit...errr STAY quit.
Cold Turkey is the best way. That way you CEASE intake of the addicting substance, rather than continuing ingesting it and PRETENDING to quit.

If you stop eating and drink plenty of water and NATURAL fruit juices for nourishment, your body will be concentrating on FOOD and for the most part, nicotine will not come to mind.
THROW AWAY all tobacco at your house and in your vehicles.Ask smoking friends to refrain from it around you.
Do not drink alcohol or caffeine as both of these will initiate a nicotine craving.
It will take about 3 days for the nicotine to be flushed from your body...drink, drink, drink.
After this, it is almost over, the hard part, that is.
Stay away from it for a few days and then it is up to you to remain stedfast and resist those urges. Simple, free and up to you.

These are the MAJOR guidelines from a cancer surgeon who has spent a lifetime teaching folks how to quit.

I quit in 2001 after smoking for 28 years. Went cold turkey and definitely not easy. I’m a firm believer it’s easier to lose weight than quit smoking. Although I didn’t have a lot of problems when I did smoke, sure glad I did. I can’t even imagine how I would feel today if I still did. Aging isn’t easy for anyone but with an sci it presents additional challenges. If I were still puffing I can only imagine how I would be feeling by now.

When people asked me how and why I quit this is what I said. My fear wasn’t so much dying from smoking for all those years, although I really would prefer to stick around for awhile longer, lol it was the prospect of surviving and living with an oxygen tank off the back of my chair: being the c/5-6 incomplete that I am. Worse yet, didn’t need to add the possibility of stroking out and having to deal with that on top of an sci. People always seem to think of death from obesity, smoking, diabetes and heart disease. I’m no vegan or an obsessive health nut but I try to be conscious and take care of myself because I would like to do whatever I can to not sustain another disability on top of what I already have. Aging into my 50’s with a sci has already started what I call becoming disabled twice.

I urge anyone to quit. You may not be lucky and just die. You just may add more issues to the quality of life that you currently have and live for quite a long time with your second disability. I say this with great sincerity and by no means in an offensive way.

What happens after:
20 Minutes
Your blood pressure returns to its usual level.
Your pulse rate slows to normal.
Your circulation has improved enough that your hands and feet warm to normal temperature.
4 Hours
Half the carbon monoxide from your last cigarette has left your bloodstream.
8 Hours
The carbon monoxide from your last cigarette is now gone from your bloodstream.
Your blood now carries a normal amount of oxygen.
24 Hours
Your chance of a heart attack is lower.
48 Hours
Damaged nerve endings start to re-grow.
Your sense of smell and taste have improved.
2 Weeks to 3 Months
Your circulation is better.
Walking and physical activity is easier.
Lung function increases up to thirty percent.
I to 9 Months
You cough less.
You have more energy.
You don't become short of breath as easily.
The cilia re-grow in your lungs and you will have less phlegm and infection.
1Year
Your heart attack risk has fallen to the halfway mark between that of a current smoker and that of someone who has never smoked.
5 Years
If you used to smoke a pack a day, you have now cut your risk of dying of lung cancer in half.
Your risk of heart attack and stroke is approaching that of a nonsmoker.
You have cut your risk of mouth, throat and esophageal cancer by half.
10 Years
Your chance of dying from lung cancer is almost as low as a nonsmoker's.
Your risk of mouth, throat, esophageal, kidney and pancreatic cancer continues to fall.
10 to 15 Years
Your risk of dying from any cause is almost the same as that of someone who never smoked.